January 15, 2019

Program January 16, 2019

Andy McGraw from the University of Richmond joins me this week to discuss a fascinating concert he's involved in next Wednesday at U of R's Camp Concert Hall.

Andy's group Gamelan Raga Kusuma and the Richmond Symphony will team up under the direction of Indonesian master musicians Sumarsam and Darsono to premiere a reconstruction of the Javanese music that Claude Debussy heard at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. The ideas Debussy got from gamelan music -- cyclicality, stasis, new ways of using counterpoint, and the unique harmonies of Java -- became key elements of his compositions and, through him, were integrated into 20th and 21st century Western classical music.

Andy and I will talk about the concert, about Debussy and gamelan, and we'll listen to some related recordings, possibly even transcriptions of 1889 wax cylinders.

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GLOBAL A GO-GO'S HOST

... hosts Global A Go-Go, a weekly two-hour world music radio program that originates in the studios of WRIR 97.3 FM Richmond Independent Radio. Bill is also WRIR's Assistant Music Director for World Music.